


Hope Behind The Suffering Joke

by FascinationStreet



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Background Poly, Character Study, Domestic, Emotional Baggage, Feelings Realization, Living Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21719830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FascinationStreet/pseuds/FascinationStreet
Summary: Jack had, has, a heart of gold and a smile for everyone, it was one of the things that first made Sammy take notice of him. He was radiant, and Sammy always loved to bask in his light and warmth and love, drawn to him like a moth to a flame.But, Sammy has come to realise, if Jack was a flame then Ben is a bonfire.
Relationships: Ben Arnold & Emily Potter, Ben Arnold/Sammy Stevens, Sammy Stevens & Jack Wright
Comments: 10
Kudos: 80





	Hope Behind The Suffering Joke

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends it's that time of year again where I reappear from the darkness with fic for a totally new fandom. 
> 
> Set nebulously when Sammy moves in but before Lily does. 
> 
> I've gone full podcast gay in the last few weeks and I'm an emotional wreck with no one to vent to so PLS hmu [ on my main twitter](https://twitter.com/alm0stmedieval) or [ on my priv/nsfw/fandom twitter](https://twitter.com/freddygauthiers) <3

Sammy is a sad man. Or, perhaps it's more accurate to say that he's just always seemed to have something to be sad about. Figuring himself out, teenage angst, his parents, keeping Jack a secret, losing him. He knows that in the grand scheme of things that he has it pretty easy compared to a lot of people but that still doesn't mean that it's been a barrel of laughs.

He tries not to let himself wallow, and if anything he's become a dab hand at repressing a lot of the things he doesn't feel like working through. It's led to some pretty bad habits if he's completely honest with himself but as far as he's concerned, it's the preferable option and he's going to stick with it as much as he can.

There are some things he can't avoid thinking about though. 

Sammy thinks about Jack every day. He loves him. He has for a long, long time, and a part of him always will, no matter what happens when they finally crack The Book and attempt to reach into the void and pull him out. 

Jack had,  _ has, _ a heart of gold and a smile for everyone, it was one of the things that first made Sammy take notice of him. He was radiant, and Sammy always loved to bask in his light and warmth and love, drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

But, Sammy has come to realise, if Jack was a flame then Ben is a bonfire. 

Ben is like nothing else Sammy has ever experienced before. Ben gives so much of himself away, little pieces of his heart or his time or his knowledge. He feels every emotion so keenly, quick to love, to laugh, to anger. He'll burn a bridge as fast as he'll hand out a second chance, and he is fiercely loyal to a fault. Ben feels things so deeply, every emotion filling him up and consuming him entirely. He feels them with his entire body, so much that there isn't enough space for them, short jokes aside, and they spill out of him in outbursts of noise and movement.

Sometimes all Sammy can do is sit back and watch him, the wide eyes and flailing hands narrowly avoiding mics and wires, his voice climbing in pitch and volume as he goes. Sometimes Sammy stokes the fire, and sometimes he tries in vain to bank it, even just a little. 

One of the biggest things he admires about Ben, though, is the affection. 

There's always some kind of display of affection from him, to everyone that he's marked out as His People. He tells Sammy that he loves him at least once a day if not more, sometimes before they go to bed, or when he hands Ben the mug of coffee he's made for him when he gets up, or at the end of a call. 

It's… weird for Sammy. Not weird in a bad way, but it takes him a while to get used to it. Sammy has, over the years since he realised he was gay, kept his displays of affection as private as possible. All the better not to make a target of himself. When it was just him, Lily and Jack against the world he loved them so much, he would have done anything for them, but he was more protective than affectionate. Especially with Jack. He was so conscious of it all the time, afraid of giving himself away, giving  _ them  _ away that he kept everything bottled up inside until it was just them again. Until they were alone and he could give Jack all of the sweet kisses and lingering touches that he wanted. 

Then he moved to King Falls, and he didn't have a relationship to protect anymore, but he was still hiding. Hiding behind layers of fake smiles and forced laughter. 

He's not ashamed to admit that he expected King Falls to be a typical small town with small town attitudes, because it’s the truth. He did think that, and he’s happy to admit that he has been proven wrong time and time again. But no one can blame him for erring on the side of caution. 

So to say that he’s caught off-guard by how openly affectionate Ben becomes once they get to know each other is an understatement. He knows that Ben is wildly in love with Emily, he hears it almost as many times as Pete telling them that he’ll never listen to the show again. And he knows that Ben is seemingly, at least, straight. But from anyone else the little touches and the blinding smiles and the inspirational speeches about what a good person he is would mean something else to Sammy. 

It's just the way Ben is, though. So he doesn't read into it too much. 

Three years after coming to King Falls, and a little less time after he finally started to understand this crazy little mountain town, Sammy is finally starting to feel like he fits inside his own skin again. 

He can be himself now, with everything out in the open. It wasn’t exactly willing, but as much as he hates how it happened he can’t hate the fact that he can be honest now. He’s open and out, and he’s confessed his true motivations for ever stepping foot into King Falls, and in spite of it all he’s still been given a home that fought tooth and nail to keep him when it looked like they’d already lost him for good.

It’s taken a long time to let himself breathe properly, to actually be honest with himself and everyone else. He’s not exactly an open book, he’s never been that kind of person, but his metaphorical book is no longer secured by heavy chains and padlocks and hidden under a loose floorboard. 

When he moves into Ben’s house it takes him a few weeks to gather up all the broken pieces of himself and put them back together again into a shape that he vaguely recognises when he looks in the mirror. Ben alternates between giving him space for some necessary wallowing and bullying him into the shower and out into the world when Sammy’s wallowing crosses into “being self-indulgent, Sammy, come on.''

There has been more than one occasion where Ben has physically manhandled Sammy into the bathroom and threatened to put him in the shower himself, and it’s comical to look back on and imagine all five-foot-nothing of one Ben Arnold trying to put Sammy’s six-and-change frame into the bath like a child. They still laugh about it, now that Sammy has lost most of the haunted look in his eyes. 

The point is that Ben is full of love. He’s made of love. Like it’s the threat that stitches together all the little parts of him and pulls him into a person. It shines out of him, when he looks at people, when he laughs, when he speaks. Sammy has never seen anything like it. 

He’ll do anything for anyone, as long as that person hasn’t made their way onto his shit list for perceived or actual crimes again His People. And sometimes, Sammy wishes he could return even a fraction of the love that Ben has given him, even when he didn’t feel like he deserved it. To really thank him for the strength and the warmth that Ben lent him when he needed it to fill up the empty space between the cracks inside him that held him together until he could manage to do it himself. 

Sammy has gotten better at being openly affectionate, especially now that he’s moved in with Ben. He tells him that he loves him too, and sometimes even manages to say it first. But he’s far more comfortable with showing his love than outwardly declaring it. 

It’s just little things at first, ways to make Ben’s life a little easier. Little things to show him how much Sammy appreciates him. 

He sets his alarm for five minutes earlier to get up and start the coffee machine so that it’s ready and cooled to the perfect drinking temperature by the time Ben gets out of the shower. He picks up Ben’s favourite candy of the month to sneak into his snack drawer when he notices that he’s running low on supplies. 

He sets up the kitchen so that it’s more than just a staging area for Ben’s thrice-weekly solo pizza party and starts cooking dinner for them both, always chopping the mushrooms and onions extra small when Ben says that he doesn’t like the texture of them. Every time he cooks he makes extra so that he can put leftovers in the refrigerator and imposes a strict once-weekly take out rule. That one is partially for Sammy’s benefit, because he cannot watch Ben eating three day old noodles out of the carton again and maintain any kind of respect for him. 

Ben asks him why he’s doing all of this stuff the night they go to see the realtor to add Sammy’s name to the lease. He tells him that it’s as much his home as it is Ben’s now and he doesn’t have to earn his keep, that he never had to in the first place. 

Sammy knows that he doesn’t have to do it, but it’s far easier to do these little things for Ben to show him how much Sammy appreciates him than just openly telling him. It shouldn’t be hard, especially when Ben is so open and forthcoming with his admiration of Sammy, but it is. The words just don't do it justice in Sammy's eyes. 

“I don’t feel like I have to work to live here, I just like keeping things tidy,” he says, laughing. It’s only a little bit forced. Ben’s face doesn’t lose the confused softness that makes him look like a puppy that doesn’t understand why it’s not allowed on the couch, so Sammy swallows and tries again. “I felt at home here before I ever moved in, Ben. Honestly.” 

“So why are you doing it then?” Ben asks. 

Sammy huffs and sits down next to Ben and tries to think of how to properly put into words something that’s never been a conscious thought, just an impulse that he’s never examined too closely. 

Ben gives him his time to consider, uncharacteristically silent and serious and it makes Sammy laugh under his breath when he thinks about how hard it is for him to talk now when talking is what he does for a living. 

“This is the first time I’ve had a home, a real home, that wasn’t just wherever Jack was, and it’s because of you.” He starts, holding Ben’s gaze. 

Home has always been where the heart is for Sammy, and Jack and Ben are both in King Falls, so as much as he tried to leave, he knows now that this is where he belongs. Where he has a family. 

“I love you Ben, and I know you know that but I really do,” he continues, “I love you as a friend and as family and in every sense of the word. You’re an amazing person, and I think the world of you. But I’ve never been good with words or affection, so I guess this is my way of showing it. It’s the only way I really know how, other than the obvious.” 

“What’s the obvious?” Ben asks, brows still furrowed. It sounds like a lead into a bit, something they’d play out on the air, but Ben’s face is open and serious, waiting for Sammy’s answer. 

“Well,” Sammy chuckles, “I’m not about to start holding your hand or take you to bed.” 

Something flashes across Ben’s face then, there and gone faster than the blink of an eye, and he swallows before he nods.

“Right, yeah. You’ve got Jack and I’ve got Emily. Yeah, I get it.” Ben nods again, almost to himself, before he smiles at Sammy, “I love you too, buddy.

He opens his arms and gestures Sammy in with his hands, “bring it in, it’s brohug time.” 

Sammy doesn’t think about it for a few days. As far as he’s concerned they’ve said all they need to say and everything is good, all back to normal.

Until they’re getting ready to drive up the mountain to the studio and Ben hands him his car keys from the bowl next to the door. It’s his turn to drive. He’s not sure if it’s just him, but Ben’s hands seem to linger over his. Ben’s thumb brushes over his knuckles, the keys still clasped between their hands, as Ben continues reading out a text from Troy about the show like he’s not doing anything odd.

Ben’s a physical guy. It’s another outlet for his emotions when they’re just too much to keep inside. He’s the type of person who squeezes you before letting go after a hug, who grabs onto your arm while his head is thrown back in laughter, who underscores a compliment with a sincere hand on your shoulder. 

He’s helped to untangle stubborn knots in Sammy’s hair after a windy day, more than once even. He’s gently shaken Sammy awake after a long car ride, and he’s brushed eyelashes off Sammy’s cheek and held them up for Sammy to make a wish on. 

But he’s never touched him quite like that. 

Sammy is ready to write it off as a quirk of his imagination or just Ben getting distracted by the text, until it starts happening more. 

Ben hugs him and holds onto him, standing on his tiptoes, for a few beats longer before the squeeze, his face tucked into Sammy’s neck instead of hooked over his shoulder. He touches Sammy’s arm to get his attention on the radio before he says his name, and doesn’t move it away until he has to work the desk to go to commercial. He holds onto Sammy’s hand with both of his when Sammy holds out the wooden spoon for Ben to taste the sauce for the pasta he’s making. 

Sammy lies in bed, thinking about it, staring up at the ceiling of the guest room.  _ His  _ room. Sammy’s own bedroom, the room that Ben gave him in the house that he made theirs.

Christ. 

He finds Ben attractive, sure. Of course he does, Ben is beautiful, both objectively and as a person. 

He was honest when he told Ben that he doesn’t look like Jack, but there’s definitely similarities between them. Ben is short where Jack is… was…  _ is  _ tall, golden skin where Jack’s is dark, his hair loose and curly where Jack’s is tight and short. But there’s a look in Ben’s eyes that reminds him of Jack sometimes; they both have a fire and a drive and endless, relentless and terrifying passion. 

So, he wasn't wrong, but Lily wasn’t wrong either when she called him out. He does have a type. 

Imagining himself with Ben, like properly with him, isn’t hard. It doesn’t feel weird, and maybe in another life he would have tried his luck with him, but Jack and Emily and fucking aliens and shadows and so many of the other things that have happened change everything. 

He knows that love isn’t the straightforward or easily quantifiable thing people want it to be, that it doesn't move in clear and straight lines like it’s made out to in films and songs. It’s messy and wild and unpredictable. He’s old enough now that he knows it’s not always realistic or even possible to label love or to put people in neat little boxes inside a heart, especially for himself. 

Sammy loved…  _ loves _ Jack so much. He made him his home and his life, to the detriment of all else. He let it burn out of control like a forest fire and was left only with the destruction once Jack was gone. 

The time he’s spent in King Falls, so close yet so far away from him, have changed him. He’s learned how to open himself up to love again, to let himself love and be loved in turn. It’s made him look at himself, naked and exposed, and take stock of himself without pretense or blinders on.

He knows now that he has space for more than just Jack in his heart and in his life. He’ll never make the same mistakes again.

And, he realises, Ben has already made himself quite at home in a large amount of that space. 

So, he lies there and thinks, not surprised by anything he finds within himself. He knew it, even if he didn’t know it enough to put it into words until now. 

But in the end, it doesn’t matter. In another life maybe he and Ben would be something else, or maybe even in this life if things had been a little different. But Ben has Emily, and he has Jack, and they still have each other in every way that matters. Sammy is happy with that. 

\---

Ben keeps touching him, looking at him, staying close to him. Sammy lets him, and slowly learns how to reciprocate without being self conscious of recrimination. Ben would never take offence or accuse him of anything, but it’s a lifelong habit that’s hard to break. 

He makes the effort for Ben, to show him how much he loves him in a way that Ben can understand without words. 

\---

Sammy and Ben celebrate a lot of anniversaries for people who aren’t actually in a relationship.

Ben plans the Sammiversaries, and Sammy is happy to let him get on with it, but for the anniversary of Ben putting his name on the lease of the house Sammy is going to take the lead.

It’s his gift to Ben, in return for Ben welcoming him even further into his life with open arms and not giving him much of a choice in the matter. For Ben knowing what he needed before Sammy knew himself. 

He puts in a special order with Rose’s for after the show gets done. He buys and hides the ingredients to make Ben’s favourite cheesecake, the one Sammy refuses to make more than once every few months because of the amount of sugar that goes into it. He buys a new rug for the lounge.

The rug isn’t exactly a present for Ben, but it’s a statement. It’s the first big thing that Sammy has bought for the house,  _ their  _ house. It’s more of a statement than anything else, but it serves the dual purpose of replacing the old and faded rug under the coffee table that has seen better days. It says that he’s here to stay, and also that Ben really needs to spruce the house up a bit.

He enlists Troy to keep Ben busy for an hour or so on an errand after they’ve woken up while he makes the cheesecake and puts it in the refrigerator to set, hidden under some aluminum. It feels weird eating little bits of cheesecake so soon after he’s woken up, but in a normal person’s day it’s just after lunch, so it works out in a lateral kind of way. 

Getting the new rug down is a bitch. The couch is fucking heavy and the coffee table is just awkward. He’s out of breath and sweating slightly before he gets it down and moves the furniture back but it’s done. Then all he has to do is swing by Rose’s to pick up the order.

He doesn’t expect to get accosted by Doyle in the parking lot wanting to discuss a guest spot on the Conspiracy Cavern about James Dean and the ravens in the Tower of London. 

Doyle doesn’t respond to his subtle attempts to end the conversation, or his more pointed references to the time and all of the places he has to be and all of the things he has to do. In the end, he agrees to schedule something in just to get him to stop talking and books it to his car before Doyle can say anything else. 

He checks his phone before he pulls out of the lot and doesn’t see anything from Troy to tell him that Ben’s on his way back home, so he should still have enough time to warm up the pancake puppies in the oven before Ben gets back, even with the unexpected delay. 

His car isn’t in the driveway when he gets in, thankfully. He carries the box into the kitchen and opens the oven door to put it in, not expecting the cloud of steam that engulfs his face.

There’s a pan of something cooking in the oven, and he definitely didn’t put it there.

“Hey, Sammy!” he hears from behind him, and he slams the oven door shut as he stands, fumbling the box of puppies onto the cooker top before he drops them all over the floor. 

“Ben! Hey!” He spins around, trying his best to look like he hasn’t almost just had a heart attack. “I thought you were uh helping Troy out with something?” 

“Yeah we were out in the squad car and he got an urgent call about the Williams boys so he dropped me off on the way.” 

Oh. That explains the lack of a heads up. 

“That sucks,” Sammy says, still vainly attempting to hide the box behind him.

“Where did you go? I thought you said you were just going to take it easy and commune with the hair gods or whatever.” 

“It’s just a hair mask, Ben, it’s not black magic.” 

They stand at opposite ends of the kitchen; Sammy lounging faux-casually against the counter top and Ben hovering in the doorway. It’s a stand off. 

“What’s in the box?” Ben asks eventually. 

“‘What’s in the baaaaaaahks’,” Sammy parrots, in a truly terrible attempt to imitate Brad Pitt. It’s even worse than the first time he attempted it. 

“No seriously, what’s in the box Sammy? I can smell something good.” 

“What’s in the oven?” He has no idea why he doesn’t want to blow the surprise, given that Ben knows he has something. 

“You first.” 

Sammy hesitates, then steps aside in defeat. 

“I got you breakfast. A special breakfast, I got them to make the puppies with jelly in the middle, since you always complain about the syrup not being thick enough.” 

Ben’s face immediately transforms from suspicious to starry-eyed as he practically wipes himself out attempting to get around the table faster than the laws of time and space normally allow just to open the box. 

“Oh my god Sammy, you’re an angel. Seriously, like if there is a god they sent you here just to convince them to invent a new kind of pancake puppy just for me.” 

Sammy smiles watching him, taking in the way he practically vibrates with excitement, his body yet again failing to fully contain everything. 

“Oh-” he says, straightening up from where his face was inside the box smelling the food, “but I made lunch for us.” 

Ben reaches behind Sammy to grab the oven glove and pulls the pan out of the oven, setting it next to the Rose’s box. 

“You made lasagne?” Sammy says. He can feel the smile stretching out over his face.

“Yeah,” Ben says, mirroring Sammy’s smile but already ten times brighter.

It’s not exactly a complicated recipe as meals go, and it’s a little heavy for lunch if Sammy’s being completely honest, but Ben  _ made _ it. The evidence of that is spread around the kitchen where Ben hasn’t tidied up after himself. 

Ben was hopeless at cooking before Sammy moved in, hence the refrigerator being empty save for various takeout cartons and pizza boxes. He’s managed to pick up the basics with some patient tutoring from Sammy.

The lasagne has caught around the edges, and the sauce has blown out in a few places and run over the side of the pan but it looks good.

Ben beams at him, proud. Sammy grins back. 

“Looks great buddy, let’s tuck in.” 

Ben’s smile somehow gets even bigger. 

It’s passable by any other standards. It’s under seasoned and the pasta is a little hard, but it’s one of the best meals Sammy has had in a while. 

“Hey,” Sammy says, dabbing his mouth on a napkin before dropping it on his empty plate, “happy anniversary buddy, love you.” 

He stacks their plates together and stands to carry them over to the sink.

Ben takes a deep breath.

“I love you, Sammy.” His tone is serious, not at all what Sammy expected. 

He puts the plates down next to the sink and turns around, leaning his hip against the edge of the counter.

“I know you d-” Ben cuts him off before he can finish.

“No, I- I  _ love  _ you, Sammy Stevens.” 

Sammy frowns, not sure how to respond. He knows Ben loves him, and he doesn’t understand why he’s being weird about it. 

“I know, Ben,” he says again, “we’re family.” 

Ben makes a frustrated noise and spreads his hands on the table. His fingers press into the grain of the wood, his shoulders tense. 

“Sammy, I love you! I love Emily and I love you, like, the same.” It comes out in a rush and he picks up speed as he talks, apparently no longer in need of oxygen like normal humans. “I didn’t realise for a long time because it’s really confusing, right? But I fought aliens and tried to stop the world just to get Emily back and then you almost got taken by the rainbow lights and it made me realise that I would totally do the same for you in a heartbeat. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you and it’s not just because we’re friends or brothers, I fucking love you, Sammy.”

Sammy is… stunned. 

“I know you have Jack and it’s totally fine, like, you love him and he’s your fiancé and you’re waiting for him to come back but I just…” he cuts himself off, seemingly out of steam, “I just wanted you to know, you know? That I really, really do love you.” 

The silence in the kitchen is deafening. 

Sammy moves away from the counter over to the table where Ben still sits, torn between watching him approach and looking away.

He reaches down to tilt Ben's face up towards him with a gentle hand on his jaw and Ben moves easily, trusting and open. Sammy leans down and kisses him on the lips. 

It's a chaste kiss, objectively it's just their lips pressed together for a few seconds and nothing more. Not too much, but enough. Enough that it can be whatever Ben wants it to mean.

"Ben," Sammy starts, and pauses for a second, taking in the vulnerability in Ben's eyes. Ben looks away, and then Sammy doesn't know what he's thinking so he carries on, "you're… amazing, Ben Arnold. You're kind and selfless and loyal and stubborn and infuriating and loud and you're just so  _ good _ ." 

He waits until Ben looks back at him and he holds his gaze, Sammy's hands still cradling Ben's jaw. He feels him swallow heavily.

"Kiss me again," Ben whispers. The vulnerability is still in his eyes but his face is set, stubborn in the way he gets when someone says he can't do something and he's determined to prove them wrong.

"Are you sure?" Sammy asks. 

It sounds like a stupid question when he says it out loud, but he needs to make sure that this is what Ben wants, that he knows what he's feeling and what he's asking for. Things aren't as simple as two people giving something between them a go, there are other things to consider. Well, there are other things to consider for Ben, Sammy has already searched his heart and found it to be true. 

Sammy is happy to have Ben in his life in any way Ben chooses to be; he doesn't need this if Ben isn't sure about it, he'll still be more than happy.

"Sammy, I asked you to kiss me, not to give me a tattoo of buzz my hair. I'm sure that I want you to kiss me again." Ben stand up from the chair, his hand resting on Sammy's hip for balance.

Sammy doesn't move backwards to give him any space, rooted to the spot as he is, and he can feel the warmth and the brilliance of Ben's body radiating out of him across the hair-gap between their bodies.

He bends down to kiss him, and this time Ben kisses him back.

Ben tightens the hand on Sammy's hip and presses in closer, arching his back to keep the kiss going. He opens his mouth, sucks on Sammy's bottom lip, and winds his other hand into Sammy's hair, all in the same breath, and Sammy's hesitance evaporates instantly. 

He kisses Ben with all of the affection that he's been holding inside him locked away, with the desperation of someone who hasn't been kissed in years. Ben kisses back with the same intensity that he does everything he sets his mind to, running his fingers through Sammy's hair to pull out the tie holding his hair up. 

Time loses all meaning for a while, and it could be minutes or hours before the kiss gentles into sweet pecks and breathing the same air. Ben pulled himself up to sit on the table at some point and Sammy has pressed so far into the V of Ben's legs that he can feel Ben's belt buckle pressing into his stomach. 

He rests his forehead against Ben's and just breathes. In and out, eyes closed, feeling the rise and fall of Ben's chest as he does the same. Sammy's hair falls around his face to shield them from the rest of the world for a little while. 

"Where do we go from here?" Sammy asks eventually, whispering so as not to disturb their little bubble too much but needing to say it all the same. 

"Wherever we want," Ben breathes back, "Emily already knows how I feel about you, I think she knew way before I did to be totally honest." 

Sammy laughs, dropping another kiss on Ben's lips. 

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest," He smiles. 

"She gets it though," Ben continues, "she knows I love both of you, and she's totally fine with that." He swallows, a hint of uncertainty creeping into his voice as he continues, "are you? I don't want to make things difficult for you, you know?" 

"If you're happy and Emily is happy, then I'm happy," Sammy moves to cup Ben's jaw again, letting his thumb trace over Ben's kiss-plush lips, "Jack… Jack understands that sometimes things aren't straightforward. So yes, Ben. I'm fine with it." 

Ben turns his face into Sammy's hand and kisses the pad of Sammy's thumb. It's quick and soft, tender, but it ignites a spark deep in Sammy's belly all the same. 

"Good," Ben beams at him, reaching up to pull Sammy's hand away from his face so that he can kiss Sammy again, lets it linger. 

"Now can I eat the pancake puppies? 

Sammy grins, feeling lighter than he has for a long time. 

"Yes Ben,  _ we _ can eat the puppies now."


End file.
